Watch: Obama Calls Out GOP Candidates For Lying About His Economic Record, “It’s An Alternate Reality!”

The American economy continued to grow at an impressive rate last month, with employers adding a better-than-expected 242,000 jobs and unemployment remaining below 5% for the second month in a row. To most logical, thinking people, the economic good news, and the years of steady job growth and rising employment that have preceded it, are a vindication of President Obama’s economic policies that brought the country out of the Great Recession.

To listen to the Republicans both in Congress and on the campaign trail, however, one would assume that the country is on the edge of the abyss. Because they apparently have little to offer in the way of constructive policy, the circus of Republican candidates have taken to selling themselves through fear, painting a doomsday narrative of an American economy debilitated by the Obama presidency and in dire need of being ‘made great again.’ As effective as these scare-tactics might be in gaining the votes of a Republican base whose opinions are increasingly formed in a void detached from truth, they bear almost no resemblance to reality.

The fact of the matter is that by any measure – whether job creation, unemployment, or the declining federal deficit – the American economy has been growing by leaps and bounds under President Obama, confirming a general trend of far better economic performance under Democratic presidents in spite of Republicans’ relentless “pro-business” blabbering. While it will likely do little to sway the minds of Republican voters who have been so thoroughly brainwashed by the party’s Big Lie of American decadence under Obama, the President responded to the new jobs data yesterday with a remarkable

“In other words, the numbers, the facts don’t lie. And I think it’s useful, given that there seems to be an alternative reality out there from some of the political folks that America is down in the dumps. It’s not. America is pretty darn great right now, and making strides right now. And small businesses and large businesses alike are hiring right now, and investing right now, and building this country brick by brick, block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood, all across the country.

“In other words, the numbers, the facts don’t lie. And I think it’s useful, given that there seems to be an alternative reality out there from some of the political folks that America is down in the dumps. It’s not. America is pretty darn great right now, and making strides right now. And small businesses and large businesses alike are hiring right now, and investing right now, and building this country brick by brick, block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood, all across the country.

And I don’t expect that these facts and this evidence will convince some of the politicians out there to change their doomsday rhetoric, talking about how terrible America is. But the American people should be proud of what they have achieved, because this speaks to their resilience, innovation, creativity, risk-taking, and grit.

The fact of the matter is, is that the plans that we have put in place to grow the economy have worked. They would work even faster if we did not have the kind of obstruction that we’ve seen in this town to prevent additional policies that would make a difference. And there is going to be a debate going on around the budget in the coming months. Republicans in Congress are, sadly, trying to cut some of the investments that could spur additional growth. They are blocking things like an increase in the minimum wage, or more robust investment in jobs training, infrastructure, education that can continue to lift up wages and incomes — an area, by the way, where we are not seeing the same kinds of pace that we want to see, and where, if we’re working together, we could be making a difference.

That’s what we should be debating. That’s the debate that is worthy of the American people. Not fantasy. Not name-calling. Not trying to talk down the American economy, but looking at the facts, understanding that we’ve made extraordinary progress in job growth; how can we continue to advance that, how can we make sure that people are successful in climbing the ladder of wage and income growth over the coming years; how do we make sure that we make this economy grow even faster.”

The notion that we would reverse the very policies that helped dig us out of a recession, reinstitute those that got us into a hole — plans that are being currently proposed by Republicans in Congress and by some of the candidates for President — that’s not the conversation we should be having. That’s not the direction America should take. And I’m looking forward to very forcefully making clear that what we have done has made a difference, and that there’s a huge gap between the rhetoric that’s going on out there and the reality of success that we’re seeing in America’s economy, even as we acknowledge that there’s more work that can be done to make sure that everybody is benefiting from that success.

Watch the President’s remarks here:

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